Nuclear
Security
Emergency shutdown at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power
plant
Published time:
December 28, 2014 14:31
Edited time: December 29, 2014 03:48
Edited time: December 29, 2014 03:48
Zaporizhia, the
largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is in southeast Ukraine on the banks of
the Dnieper River. © Wikicommons
One of the reactors at the Zaporizhia
Nuclear Power Plant was automatically shut down after a glitch. This was the
second halt in operations in recent weeks at the plant in Ukraine’s southeast,
which covers at least one fifth of the country’s power needs.
“Unit 6 at Zaporizhzhya
NPP was disconnected from the network by the automatic system that prevents
damage to the generator. The reactor is running at 40 percent of nominal
power,” the
plant’s official website says stressing that radiation at the facility is equal
to the natural background, which is 8-12 microroentgen/hour.
This accident took place on Sunday morning
at 05:59 am local time (03:59 GMT). Causes are still being investigated, while
the Energy Ministry hopes to restart the unit in the coming days. The remaining
five reactors continue to generate an estimated 4,530 MW.
Late on Sunday, the problem had been fixed
and the power plant’s sixth power block had been plugged back into the network,
the plant said on its website.
"Unit №6 was
plugged back in after an error was corrected...At this moment all six power
blocks are working,” the statement said.
The previous incident at Zaporizhia NPP
happened on November 28, but the fact went public five days later, when
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk revealed it during the first session
of his new cabinet.
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